100 Years of Baylor Homecoming

This year was the 100th Anniversary of Baylor's Homecoming celebrations. Baylor has one of the best Homecomings in the nation. They have the oldest and largest Parade, a bonfire with pep rally and concert, and many more events. My favorite event must be Pigskin Revue. It is a recap of the winning performances from Sing the year before. Sing and Pigskin are a "must-see" for everyone. This year I was fortunate to enjoy the Pigskin performances with some friends from Sunday School, Paige and Chance Connell and Erik and Amanda Hill. Kim Johnson who I am blessed to work with at the Elementary school was able to come with us also.

Following Pigskin, I went with the Connells and the Hills to enjoy the Bonfire, complete with a pep rally, concert, carnival, and fireworks. It was a great time!!


The next morning I went to the Homecoming Parade with the Whitlarks. It was a beautiful fall morning and a great day for a parade. I enjoy every minute I get to spend with these guys, Hannah is so fun and Jennifer and Jason are great friends!!!

The Baylor Golden Wave Band was part of the opening of the parade. The band scared Hannah, but it was fun to watch and made you proud to be a Baylor Bear.

After the Parade was of course the game. I went up to the stadium early and spent some time tailgating with some friends. I walked into the game with James and Tara and their beautiful little girl, Sydney. The 4 of us rooted the Bears onto defeat, as the Cowboys of OSU crushed us 34-7. Overall, it was a great weekend and it made me proud to be Baylor Bear!

Columbus Day

"In 14 hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

Today is Columbus Day. A holiday that closes the post office, banks, and all government entities, not to mention most schools (not mine, however). This holiday has always baffled me. We all learn about Christopher Columbus in school, but if we ever venture out and learn about other explorers we learn that Columbus didn't really do anything extraordinary, and I've learned he wasn't that great of a man...

A quick history lesson:

500 years before Columbus ever set sail (my math would tell me that would be 992ish) a man named Leif Ericson, a viking, founded the "New World".

Amerigo Vespucci, a famous Italian explorer, actually founded America. This was in 1497, and it makes sense why we are America, named after Amerigo.

Columbus sailed west but never touched foot on the American continent. He spent all of his time on islands, most of the time being in what is now Haiti. It wasn't until his 3rd voyage that he actually stepped onto the "new world" and it was actually South America.

It is rumored that as Columbus tried to colonize this new land he treated the natives very cruelly. He pillaged the lands and raped the women. There are many countries in South America that do not like Christopher Columbus at all.

Well, he did discover the Earth was round, right? Wrong! People had known and believed the Earth was round for years before Columbus had ever set sail.

Now, with all of these accolades, would you still believe he is worthy of a national holiday? I don't want to start a big debate. I think that we need to learn about Columbus, but lets not forget about Leif and Amerigo and the many of other explorers who discovered great things on behalf of the the human race!

Venture on!

Autumn is here!

Fall officially came towards the end of September. I only say that because it was the 'First Day of Fall', but have yet to actually witness it. Here is Texas we have had a lot of rain and some cooler days with those rains (and when I say cooler, I mean 80's). But living in Texas, these cool spots of rain are accompanied by hot and uncomfortable humidity, and then another cycle of warm days.

That is until yesterday. We got some crazy rain which followed by 50 degree weather! It was a perfect night for a China Spring High School football game. I was able to come home and put on sweats after the game. I was bundled up with a quilt and a movie on the couch.

Today was a little cloudy with a high of 58! To top it all off, I was able to take some good friends to their Fall Festival at their school. I wore my first jeans, long sleeve shirt, and hoodie of the season. Not to mention, I drank my first hot chocolate as I followed Jacey and Ty around the grounds of their elementary school in Lorena. Of course, on the drive home we used the seat warmers and turned the heater on for the first time!

It has been a perfect weekend to officially kick off the fall season! I am thinking a nice sweater will be nice for church tomorrow. Maybe I will stop and get a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks on the way. (I have heard a lot about these...)

I am a Cali girl and I LOVE the warm weather, but it is nice to have a little change here. I am looking forward to watching the trees change and some more football games cuddled up in blankets, gloves, and scarves. I am just glad that winter doesn't last too long in Texas!